As the summer holiday comes to an end and normal life in The Netherlands resumes, there are two things the Dutch can count on: the premature appearance of pepernoten and chocolate letters in supermarkets, and a dramatic upsurge of the debate surrounding Black Pete or “Zwarte Piet”, as he is called in Dutch.

Black Pete is generally described as Saint Nicholas’ helper, arriving with him on the boat from Spain, bringing gifts and candy to children who have been nice. Kids who’ve been naughty run the risk of being taken back to Spain or—potentially worse—not getting any candy.

“Regardless of the reason for his skin tone, Black Pete is essentially a yearly recurring appearance of blackface in a country that generally considers itself tolerant, open-minded, and non-discriminatory.”

The reasons given for Pete’s blackness vary from his being a Moor, to his face having been blackened from sliding down sooty chimneys to secretly deliver said gifts and candy. (For some reason, Saint Nicholas rides the rooftops on his horse–David Sedaris can explain). Regardless of the reason for his skin tone, Pete is essentially a yearly recurring appearance of blackface in a country that generally considers itself tolerant, open-minded, and non-discriminatory.

In recent years, The Netherlands has been divided into two camps: one arguing that the Black Pete tradition is racist, and one arguing that it’s a harmless Dutch tradition. Each have their campaigns and prominent figures arguing for either position in the various debates that take place on the issue in the run-up to 5 December.

An interesting perspective is offered this year by the Children’s Ombudsman, who released a report (in Dutch) recommending that changes be made to the Black Pete tradition. The Ombudsman noted that no proper research had been conducted to date on whether the way the Saint Nicholas holiday is currently celebrated has any negative impact on children. She concluded, however, based on conversations with children, that non-white children experienced increased instances of discrimination around the holiday. The current practice, the report stated, was in contravention of The Netherlands’ obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in particular Articles 2, 3 and 6. Following the release of the report, the Ombudsman received numerous threats.

“The Ombudsman concluded, based on conversations with children, that non-white children experienced increased instances of discrimination around the holiday.”

The matter of Black Pete has received attention in the past few years from various United Nations human rights bodies. In 2014, the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent conducted an official visit to The Netherlands. In a statement made following the visit, the Working Group pointed to the apparent blind spot that many Dutch citizens have regarding the Black Pete tradition.

“It is a fact that no country is free of racism and the Netherlands is not an exception,” the statement said. “But for a country that has long been perceived as having a long tradition of tolerance and openness, the silence around racism and racial discrimination is surprising and worrying, It affects the awareness and sensibilities around cultural traditions and cultural diversity in the Kingdom as exemplified in recent debates around the Black Pete (Zwarte Piet) celebration.”

The Working Group had reported earlier that it had been the target of threats when its investigations into complaints filed on the portrayal of Black Pete became known. The right-wing politician Geert Wilders commented that “it would be better to scrap the UN than Black Pete.”

“The Netherlands’ official response does not inspire much confidence in light of frequently surfacing reports about the outright prohibition of, or police interference in, demonstrations against Black Pete, and the lack of investigation into threats made against those who oppose the tradition.”

The Netherlands’ official response does not inspire much confidence in light of frequently surfacing reports about the outright prohibition of, or police interference in, demonstrations against Black Pete, and the lack of investigation into threats made against those who oppose the tradition.

The big question is: what next? Litigation has yielded little result. The Dutch courts appear to be in favour of having “society” find a solution rather than forcing the government to do so, but Dutch society seems too polarised to engage in any constructive conversation about a solution. Meanwhile, there is evidence that what is meant to be a children’s holiday is negatively affecting the country’s young people. Should the Dutch government then not act to remedy this?

The government are actively subsidising this blackfacing. The NTR (subsidised by the government) make a childrens television series featuring actors in black face paint, and sell lesson material for it. The vast majority of primary schools show this television series to children in school. The government are therefore NOT neutral bystanders in this issue. The Dutch government are active proliferators of racism (by subsidizing the NTR- a television company central to the celebration of Sinterklaas on a national level.)

The real race obsessed racist are using the history of the trans-Atlantic slave trade to further their political agenda….just like they did in the USA white guilt is black power so is it in the Netherlands, none of these people who now claim that “Zwarte Piet” is #Racism protest against the economic exploitation, aka dependency on the welfare state and the multicultural apartheid, why not because it doesn’t benefit the Marxist collectivist ideology that they subscribe to. One the one hand the so-called tolerant liberals/democrats display their own superiority and the whino’s their own inferiority….they both deserve each other, bunch of hypocrites.